He left his wife and spent time with his courtesan. Now he has moved on to other women. But his wife is still upset with the courtesan and bad mouths her. Hearing this, the courtesan says “Her husband is like a bee that moves from flower to flower. Whether he got that trait from the bee or the bee got the trait from him, I don’t know. His son’s mother (wife) is not aware of the reality and is angry with me. But he has left me too.”

Her friend tells him how much his lady misses him. She says, “Whenever you come, you find her cheerful and healthy. Do you know that her haleness and cheerfulness makes is presence felt, only when you are here? When you are not here, she weakens and withers away. In your hill country, even after a long horned sturdy goat has deserted it, the female goat still roams around the waterfalls expecting the male to come back. Like that she holds herself together waiting for you. Better marry her soon”

She’ll get tight-lipped and angry just on hearing it,What’ll happen if she sees with her own eyes –Your whoring chest that many a girl has relished,like the chilly river front in the month of Thaiwhere fragrant flower plaited girls revel in.

He comes back home after spending time with his mistress. Her friend refuses to let him inside the house saying she will be angry if she sees him. Even hearing that he is with his mistress makes her angry and speech less. What will happen if she sees with her own eyes evidence of his cheating. Petals cling to his chest as evidence. Her friend disparagingly calls it ‘whoring chest’. It was customary during the month of Thai (Jan/Feb) for girls to go and bathe early morning in the chilly waters of the river front. So the river front will be strewn with flowers from their plaited hair. Like that his chest has petals from the tresses of many a girl who has relished it.

Is is thought that this custom of தை நீராடல் (Thai Neeraadal) later morphed into பாவை நோன்பு (Paavai Nonbu).

After their love making he praises the girl. “Your brothers are murderous hunters wearing red colour attire and carrying bow and arrows made of wood. You are their sister. You look at the rosiness in your breasts and think it is glowing. But my heart tormented by you looks upon them as the cause of its torment.”

He has promised to come and ask her dad for her hand. But hasn’t turned up as promised. Her friend chides him saying “You are an expert in deceiving us. You lied to us that you will come home and ask her father for her hand. But because you don’t do the right thing, you are “. The first two lines are interesting. The goats aren’t bothered about the parrots and go about their grazing. But the parrot is afraid of the goat unnecessarily. Her friend implies that he is afraid of her relatives unnecessarily and that’s why he has not turned up as promised.

His friend asks him why he is not sleeping. He says the girl I saw in the sea shore, wearing shining bangles, has taken away my heart. Like the unceasing noisy waves of Thondi shore, where bees buzz around, I too am not able to sleep even at night.

The rolling waves never sleep. He likens himself to those waves. Bees buzz around as they circle lily flowers in backwaters. Similarly his heart is roaming around the backwaters after the girl he saw there.

He is in the beach looking at a group of girls. One of the girls comes and asks him who is his lover among the group. He describes her. She is the one wearing bangles shaped by a polishing file. Her teeth are like shining pearls fished in Korkai’s (an important harbor in Pandiya Kingdom, situated in present day South Tamil Nadu) anchorage, where lily petals sway gently. Her mouth is coral red in colour. Her words are sweet like the music emanating when strings of a harp are plucked.

She has eloped with her lover. Her mother sends people to search for her. They come back and say she has left town. This is her mother’s lament. “This is my doll like daughter’s favorite doll. This is my parrot like daughter’s favorite parrot. This is my flower like daughter’s favorite flower. She has left her favorite play things, pets and flowers and gone away with him. Every time I look at them they remind me of her and make me grieve more.”

The Tamil version says பூ கணோளே – flower like eyes. I have used ‘Lily eyed’ since eyes are equated to lily flowers (நெய்தல்/ஆம்பல்) in Tamil literature often.

As always, if you can read Tamil, read it out loud. Especially the cadence of the last two lines. I can’t do justice to it.

She has come back after meeting her lover who lives in hill country. Her friend asks “Water quality is bad in his country. How did you manage?” She replies “The muddled water in the foliage covered puddles there was sweeter than milk sweetened with honey”. Her love for him makes her over look these minor hiccups. Love is not only blind, but also numbs the tastebuds :-).

The arid landscape poems (பாலைத் திணை) in Sangam literature talk about separation. In this poem the man from the hills wants to go across the arid lands in summer to earn his wealth. His wife doesn’t want him to leave. So she sends her friend to dissuade him. The friend asks him, “All the wealth you earn by going across, is it more precious than seeing the smile of your first born son?”

It is not clear from the poem or its commentary whether she is still pregnant or has already given birth. I lean towards seeing it as a poem written from the point of a pregnant woman. She wants him to be near her when she births his first son.